Little did they know till afterwards how very nearly even then their plot was spoiled for them. For after Charon had left the feasters, a slave arrived from Athens from a friend of Archias with a letter in which a full account of the plot was written. The slave said Archias ought to read it at once, but by this time Archias had drunk too much wine to be able to read letters, and he stuffed it under the cushion of his couch, saying, "Business to-morrow."

Soon after, the pretended ladies were announced. Dressed in very wide, loose robes, with wreaths of flowers on their heads and round their necks to partly hide their faces, Charon, Melon, and the others entered. Archias and his fellow-guests clapped their hands in welcome, while the new arrivals looked round the room to see how best they could carry out their dread deed.

In a few minutes it was all over, and neither Archias nor Philippus was alive to do "business to-morrow."

Meanwhile Pelopidas and his companions had harder work to do, for Leontiades was not drunk, and fought like a tiger for his life. He killed one of them, and fought long against Pelopidas before he was struck down.

Then the conspirators joined each other, and rushed off to the prison. There they killed the jailer and set free one hundred and fifty of their friends, who were prisoners, and gave them arms. With these they marched through the city, shouting that the tyrants were dead, and Thebes was free, and singing

Most of the people had gone to bed, but soon the streets were crowded, and when morning dawned they all seized arms and went to attack the Spartan garrison in the citadel.

Next day two Athenian generals brought troops to their aid. For Athens was always ready to help the oppressed. After three or four days' hard fighting, the Spartan garrison yielded and was sent out of the city to return to Sparta.

Pelopidas, Melon, and Charon were elected as Governors of Thebes, and then the Thebans began to talk over what they should do next.

There was little doubt that Sparta would take her revenge on them for the events of that winter night, and Thebes was hardly strong enough just then to face her.

But other things happened to favour Thebes.

A Spartan officer, left with a few thousand troops to guard Thespiae, tried, but failed, to take Athens as Phoebidas had taken Thebes. Still, his act made the Athenians so angry that they declared war on Sparta. This for a time gave Sparta so much to do that she left Thebes alone. Thebes had time to recover herself, to punish all the Boeotian towns which had been friendly to Sparta, and to make herself once more the ruler in Boeotia.

It was not until eight years after Thebes was set free that the Spartan king, Cleombrotus, marched into Boeotia with a large army. Even then Epameinondas could not easily persuade the other Theban generals to fight against Cleombrotus, though he had reached Leuctra, which was only eight miles from Thebes.

Near to Leuctra was the tomb of two Boeotian maidens who had killed themselves after ill-treatment at the hands of Spartan officers. There was an old prophecy which said that the Spartans would be defeated at the "Tombs of the Maidens." Epameinondas reminded his officers of this saying, and they then agreed to fight. But Epameinondas himself really believed more in good fighting than in anything else for bringing victory, and he arranged his men in what was then an unusual way. In the early afternoon, the Spartan generals led their army down into the plain. The Thebans moved out rapidly to meet them, with their left wing far in advance; for such was Epameinondas's new way of battle. The cavalry began the fight by charging the Spartans, and drove them off the field. Then the Theban heavy infantry charged against the Spartan king and his native Spartan troops, and broke their line. The king fell, and was carried off the field by his bodyguard. The Spartans still stood like an iron wall against the Theban charge, while the soldiers on their flank began to close around the Theban flank.

But Pelopidas interfered at this moment. He had been posted in the rear of the Thebans, with three hundred picked men, called the "Sacred Band." And his orders were to move out and protect the main body of the army at just such a time as this.

And now the hardest struggle took place; the Spartans did not flinch nor desert their place, but they fell before the charge of the heavy Theban column. Epameinondas cried, "Give me a step more, my brave men, and the day is ours."

This cry gave so much fresh courage to his men, that they made one more great effort, broke through the middle of the enemy's line, and the battle of Leuctra was won.

In the few moments of that last desperate fight about four hundred noble Spartans had fallen, besides one thousand of the commoner sort. Hardly a Spartan officer was left alive.

On the advice of Epameinondas, the Thebans allowed the Spartans to retire after the battle, without pursuing them or storming their camp. This seems more generous, perhaps, than it was really; but Jason of Pherae, from Thessaly in the north, marched into Boeotia just then at the head of his troops. He said he was friendly to the Thebans, but Epameinondas did not feel sure that he was to be trusted. So he thought it best to leave the Spartans alone for the time, especially as in their despair over their defeat they were likely to keep quiet for some time to come.

For more than a year the Thebans had to keep very quiet and near home, in fear of what Jason might do next. Then he was murdered, and they were freed from further fear.

So late in the summer Epameinondas led an army against Sparta, and did much harm to the country. He also set free the ancient people of Messenia from Spartan tyranny, and made for them a new city, Messene.

This took so much time, that he had kept his command four months longer than the law allowed. When he returned to Thebes, his enemies there wished to punish him for this. But they were few in number, and the greater number hooted them down, and chose Epameinondas as general for the year. He soon returned to Sparta, and helped in the siege of Sicyon, which was a town friendly to Sparta. He took it, but failed to take Corinth. When he went home, the Thebans thought he had done less than he might have done, so they did not choose him as general for the next year.

There was trouble again in Thessaly, and the Thebans were asked for their help, so that they had to leave the Spartans alone for a time.

Jason's two brothers had been murdered, and his son-in-law, Alexander, had seized his throne.

This Alexander was a monster of cruelty. He ill-treated his people in such a way that they cried out for the Thebans to come and help. Pelopidas, more generous than wise, answered their call, and brought the cruel tyrant to his knees.

Alexander never forgot and never forgave him for this, and after a time he had his revenge.

For some time after, Pelopidas, who was always more brave than wise, was going through Thessaly with a very few followers to do business in Macedon. Alexander heard of this, and sent a party to lie in wait for him and kidnap him. The plot succeeded, and the Thebans sent seven thousand men, under two very stupid generals, to fight against Alexander and to recover Pelopidas.

Fortunately Epameinondas was among the seven thousand, and when the two stupid generals saw that they were losing the battle, they begged him to take the command. He saved the Theban army from being cut to pieces. He had his reward by being sent as general over a larger force to rescue his friend. In a few days' time he had so thoroughly frightened Alexander that he willingly set Pelopidas free, and begged for peace.

The one sad deed on the part of Pelopidas followed soon afterwards. Perhaps he can be excused a little, if we remember that the Thebans had never hated Persia so much as the other Greeks had.

Pelopidas went to the Persian capital, Sousa, to ask the "Great King" for money to carry on the war against Sparta. Artaxerxes II. granted his request, and so once more Thebes was joined with an Oriental despot against her sister states of Hellas.

It is comforting to remember that this alliance did Thebes little good, although Epameinondas, who helped to plan it, and Pelopidas, who carried it out, are none the less to blame for that.

Three years later, Pelopidas was again given the command of an army against the savage Alexander of Pherae, who was once again on the war-path. As he marched out of the city at the head of the army, an eclipse of the sun took place. This was counted a bad omen, and the men refused to march. Pelopidas could not move them, and went off almost alone to Thessaly. There he called together the Thessalians to rebel against their king.

He soon had a few thousands to follow him, and with these he fought against Alexander and twice as large an army at Cynoscephalae. He was on the point of winning a most glorious victory, when he caught sight of Alexander himself. Eager to avenge his old wrongs, he pressed towards him, but was cut down before he reached him.

And so in his next campaign against Sparta Epameinondas had to go without his friend. Several clever plans that he made to take the Spartans by surprise failed because some one betrayed them. At last he met his enemy near Mantinea, the very place where he had so bravely risked his life to save Pelopidas twenty-three years before. Surely this was the best spot for him to end his life, and set his spirit free to rejoin Pelopidas in the Isles of the Blest. There all great heroes go after death.

And so it befell. For in the glorious moment of victory a desperate Spartan pierced his breast deep with his pike. His men raised him at once, and carried him in a fainting condition up to a small hill behind the battlefield.

At last his eyes opened, and he asked if his men had won; and when they answered "Yes," but that his two chief officers were slain, he gasped out: "Then you had better make peace." A little later he whispered that they should draw the spearhead from his wound. Immediately the blood spouted forth in a torrent, and he fell back dead.

And with him died the glory of Thebes, which had shone out so brightly for the brief quarter-century of his manhood.